Saturday, October 15, 2005

RE: Love em' or Hate em': Reviewers

Readers? Do you pay attention to reviews? Which ones do you read? Do you read them for their overview of the story? Do their recommendations make you buy (or not buy) a book? Are there any you trust more than others?

We'd love your take.

4 comments:

Allison Brennan said...

I never read reviews until I sold. Now I read them, but I don't necessarily hold stock in them. I've loved some books that have received rotten reviews, and hated books with a top billing from RT or PW.

The reviews I listen to? My best friend who isn't a writer, reads multiple genres, and knows exactly what I love and hate. When she says I "have" to read something, I put it to the top of my TBR pile.

Nancy Herkness said...

I do read reviews of my books. I can't stop myself; it's some kind of weird compulsion. However, I have developed "selective memory" when it comes to the bad ones. Here's how it works:
1) There's almost always something positive in a review. Even Mrs. Giggles (famous for shredding books) said my first book had "charm."
2) I remember the positive statement (or word, if that's the best there is) and completely erase the rest from my memory.
Since my memory is erratic at best, this works like a charm for me (she says, grinning).

Nancy Herkness said...

Sorry, I just realized that I posted the above comment in response to the wrong blog entry! I meant to answer Colleen's comments on reviews. Of course, I have no idea how to move it so I guess I'll just put it in both places. I'm still trying to learn this blog stuff...

gailbarrett said...

You are absolutely right. It's best not to think about reviews either way. Everyone has different tastes and what one person loves, another doesn't care for.